The present invention relates in general to venting and conduit devices for routing exhaust from within a structure to a remote location outside of the structure. More specifically the present invention relates to the design of a hooded exhaust vent for routing the exhaust from a clothes dryer to the outside atmosphere. The hooded vent is designed to be attached to a wall panel or window panel (pane removed) and extends outwardly into the outside atmosphere.
The exhaust from a clothes dryer is typically routed to the outside atmosphere by means of a flexible conduit and some type of vent member. The exit location from the corresponding structure is typically an outside wall of the structure or a window panel with the glass pane removed. The flexible conduit is secured to the exhaust conduit of the clothes dryer and then routed to the exit location. At the exit location a flow opening or passageway is created in the structure wall or window panel and a suitable vent is mounted into, onto, or across the exit flow opening. In order to substantially prevent the inflow or backflow of outside air, as well as to prevent the entry of moisture which may be due to rain or snow, exhaust vents of this type may be covered with a hood and would include a one-way or hinged flapper or a series of hinged louvers secured within a surrounding frame.
The following listed patents provide a representative sampling of these earlier vent designs:
______________________________________ PATENT NO. PATENTEE ISSUE DATE ______________________________________ 5,167,578 Legault Dec. 1, 1992 5,383,816 Marcello et al. Jan. 24, 1995 5,498,204 Anderson et al. Mar. 12, 1996 4,214,380 Meyer Jul. 29, 1980 4,081,915 Materniak et al. Apr. 4, 1978 3,204,548 McCabe Sep. 7, 1965 ______________________________________
One of the concerns with external vent hoods which open out into) the atmosphere is that they create a protected, warm location for birds and small animals to nest. The building of a nest in this area can block the flapper or louvers from freely opening in response to exiting exhaust air from the clothes dryer. If this situation occurs and persists, it will interfere with the operation of the clothes dryer and could create a risk of fire. Even if the flapper or louvers are operable, an open and unguarded conduit provides an entrance path into the structure for birds and small animals.
One self-help remedy to try and prevent the nesting of birds and small animals is to create a wire screen and place it over the exit opening of the hood or across the louver frame. Starting with a panel of wire screen material, it can be cut to size and bent into a shape which would roughly fit the exit opening of the hood or the louver frame. The problem with this approach is that there is no convenient way to secure the formed wire panel on or around the vent. Depending on the skill of the individual in cutting and bending the wire screen material, this hand-made approach could be somewhat unsightly and the entire process is awkward enough that many homeowners would not be inclined nor willing to try and Rube Goldberg something together. Even if the wire screen panel is taped in place, this simply further detracts from the appearance which should be a concern because the vent, or at least the hood portion, is on the outside of the structure. Accordingly, this type of approach represents something less than a desirable modification.
It would therefore be an improvement to hooded dryer exhaust vent designs to provide an attractively styled, matching and securely attached guard over the exit opening of the dryer exhaust vent so that birds and small animals cannot nest inside the hood nor gain access to the area adjacent to the vent flapper or vent louvers. Such a guard is provided by the present invention and is designed so as to be removable and able to be readily assembled to the hood with a snap-fit. Accordingly, the guard design of the present invention is efficient, attractive, reliable, and cost effective. With an open grid design for the guard, there is an unrestricted, free flow of exhaust from the clothes dryer while still providing a suitable barrier to the entry of birds aid small animals and a suitable barrier to the nesting of birds and small animals. The present invention provides this efficient, attractive, reliable, and cost effective design in a novel and unobvious manner.